Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation (Ray Bradbury Graphic Novels) - Softcover

Tim Hamilton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080905101X ISBN 13: 9780809051014

Publisher: Hill and Wang, 2009

Synopsis

Now an HBO Original Movie starring Michael B. Jordan (Black Panther), Sofia Boutella (Star Trek: Beyond), and Michael Shannon (The Shape of Water).

An Eisner Award Nominee

"Monday burn Millay, Wednesday Whitman, Friday Faulkner, burn 'em to ashes, then burn the ashes."

For Guy Montag, a career fireman for whom kerosene is perfume, this is not just an official slogan. It is a mantra, a duty, a way of life in a tightly monitored world where thinking is dangerous and books are forbidden.

In 1953, Ray Bradbury envisioned one of the world's most unforgettable dystopian futures, and in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, the artist Tim Hamilton translates this frightening modern masterpiece into a gorgeously imagined graphic novel. As could only occur with Bradbury's full cooperation in this authorized adaptation, Hamilton has created a striking work of art that uniquely captures Montag's awakening to the evil of government-controlled thought and the inestimable value of philosophy, theology, and literature.

Including an original foreword by Ray Bradbury and fully depicting the brilliance and force of his canonic and beloved masterwork, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is an exceptional, haunting work of graphic literature.

NOTE: THIS IS A GRAPHIC LITERATURE.

About this title

About the Authors

Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) was one of science fiction's greatest luminaries. The author of such classic, important works as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and Something Wicked This Way Comes, Bradbury was honored in 2007 with a Pulitzer citation "for his distinguished, prolific and deeply influential career as an unmatched author of science fiction and fantasy." Other distinctions include a 1954 honor from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, a Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation in 2000, and the National Medal of Arts, awarded by President George W. Bush and Laura Bush in 2004. He was also an Emmy Award-winning screenwriter. Born in Waukegan, Illinois in 1920, Bradbury spent most of his life in Los Angeles, where he passed away in 2012.

Tim Hamilton has produced art for The New York Times Book Review, Cicada magazine, King Features, BOOM Studios, Mad Magazine, and Serializer.net. He adapted Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island into a graphic novel for Puffin Graphics.

Reviews

A faithful adaptation of the original, Hamilton's comics version conveys the social commentary of the novel, while using the images to develop the tone. He uses grainy, static colors and images obscured by heavy black shadows and textures to portray the oppressive nature of this world where firemen start fires instead of putting them out. Malevolent forces and danger lurk in the shadows pervading the suburban home of fireman Montag and his wife, Mildred. Montag questions the happiness of his mundane life when prodded by his strange new neighbor, a young girl named Clarisse, as well as his wife's drug overdose. This leads him to throw himself into a dangerous struggle to expose the world's hypocrisy by spreading the forbidden knowledge contained in books. The art solidifies atmospheric elements such as the fire and rain; fire, tapering and curling, is rendered into a crucial additional character. Since the original expounds the importance of valuing and preserving books and knowledge, adapting it into the comics form emphasizes the growth of the medium, as well as its potency across genres and subjects. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Hill and Wang
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080905101X
• ISBN 13: 9780809051014
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160